Remember. Everything's going to be fine.

I get the sense that, thanks to a news media that tends to lather up an unsuspecting nation by exaggerating the facts, television viewers with older TV sets are in a panic over this whole digital conversion thing.

Trust me -it's easy. Just follow this simple guide, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Converting to Digital TV But Were Afraid to Ask - a definite clip-and-save.

At midnight on Feb. 17, 2009, all U.S. television stations will shut off their analog television signals and transmit only digital signals due to a federal government mandate. Hey, it's progress.

Some 13 million people will be affected, according to Nielsen Media Research. Utah, as I noted in a story last Friday, will be impacted the most because we have the highest percentage of homes with TVs that only accept programming via rabbit ears, which means they're most likely analog TVs.

People with standard, analog TV sets (getting your signals through antennas) have a year to switch to something that accepts a digital signal. There are three ways to do that:

* Buy a new digital TV set.

Ouch! That's going to cost a lot of money, you say. Well, yes and no. A new digital set can be had for $300 to $400. You can even get a high-definition set for that price (and let's avoid confusion here: All HDTVs are digital, but not all digital sets are in HDTV).

I don't think you can even buy an analog set anymore, unless it's one of those 9-inch portable sets. So don't worry about whether it's digital when you go out and purchase a new TV.

* Get cable or satellite.

That's a lot of money, too, if you think an average of about $60 to $70 a month is expensive. But the advantages here are you get your programs with clear digital picture and sound, with a lot of programming variety, and you'll be introduced to the likes of AMC's "Mad Men" and HBO's "Entourage." Pound for pound, cable programming is better than anything on regular broadcast networks (unless you really like "American Gladiators").

* Get a digital converter box.

Finally, something that's not going to cost an arm and a leg. Digital converter boxes are set-top boxes for your TV that convert the incoming digital signal to analog so it can be played on your old TV.

The government is providing coupons that cut the price of the box by 40 bucks. Apply for them at www.dtv2009.gov. Depending on whether you want a box that works in standard definition or high definition, the converter can cost as little as $50, which means you only have to pay $10.

If you want even more information, go to KUED's Web site on the transition to digital at www.kued.org/digital.

That's all there is to it. See, was that so hard?

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* VINCE HORIUCHI can be reached at vince@sltrib.com or 801-257-8607.